Configuring Service Requests

In the exercises belonging to the unit, the scenario below is implemented: a new transaction type is configured for service requests (ZR##). A ZR## (Service Request ##) document is created. A ZT## (Service Order ##) service order is then created based on this service request. The ZT## service order will contain multiple items: a service item, a service part, and an externally procured service part.

A service confirmation (for the service item) is also created and the customer is invoiced.

Time durations in a response profile can be assigned to priorities and categories, as well as a combination of these two fields. In a service request, the priority can be determined based on a combination of the Impact field (for example: High) and the Urgency field (for example: High), or be selected manually. The categorization (for example: Basis Support) is usually selected manually. Values for the First Response By and Due By fields are then calculated based on the settings in the profiles.

In a service order, the calculation of the values for the mentioned dates (and times) is executed at item level based on the priority (or categorization) maintained at header level.

Values for the fields First Response By and Due By at header level in a service order are maintained manually.

When using the inbox app, which is available for example on the SAP Fiori launchpad, a service employee can search and display service requests and service orders using the Due On/At field.

The mentioned profiles can be defined either in Customizing or using a transaction in the end user environment (SAP Easy Access menu) of SAP S/4HANA. Using the SAP Easy Access menu, navigate to Service → Service Processes → Maintain Availability and Response Times.

In Customizing, the service and response profiles can be found using SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Transactions → Settings for Service Transactions → Define Availability and Response Times.

Response profiles cannot be transported: they have to be maintained manually in each SAP S/4HANA system client where they are required.

The mentioned profiles are available only for products that are created with a material type that has as a reference material type SERV. In Customizing, navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Logistics - General → Material Master → Basic Settings → Material Types → Define Attributes of Material Types to see this reference material type. Material type SERV itself can, of course, also be used.

The service profile and the response profile that are relevant for a certain service transaction are determined based on the SLA Determination Procedure that is assigned to the transaction type used.

In Customizing, navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Transactions → Basic Settings → Define Transaction Types.

Check, for example, the SLA determination procedure assigned to transaction type SRVR (Service Request).

An example determination sequence could be:

1. Profiles assigned to the service contract
2. Profiles assigned to the business partner (sold-to party)
3. Profiles assigned to the service product
4. Profiles assigned to the organizational unit (service)
5. Profiles determined based on a business add-in (BAdI)

To define SLA determination procedures, in Customizing, navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Transactions → Settings for Service Requests → Define SLA Determination Procedures.

When a customer places a call to the contact center for services for a company, the contact center agent creates a service request by manually searching for the correct account/contact information and entering it. The contact center agent can then assign the request to an appropriate resource (that is, a person) for service delivery.

Multilevel categorization and checklist features (see the next section) are available when entering such a service request.

Other key features available for service requests are service request templates, knowledge articles, and rules-based dispatching.

A service order quotation can be created as a follow-up document to a service request. This service order quotation is then issued to the customer for approval. When the customer approves/accepts the service order quotation, a follow-up service order is automatically created.

It is also possible to immediately create a service order as a follow-up document to a service request. The appropriate technician is then assigned to execute the job.

The standard transaction type in SAP S/4HANA for service requests is SRVR (Service Request). This transaction type has the leading business transaction category BUS2000223 (Service Request). It is also maintained for business transaction categories BUS2000115 (Sales), BUS2000116 (Service Order/Quot.), and BUS2000126 (Business Activity).

Transaction type SRQT (Serv. Requ. Template) is available for a service request template. It also has the leading business transaction category BUS2000223 (Service Request) and is also maintained for business transaction categories BUS2000116 (Service Order/Quot.) and BUS2000126 (Business Activity).

Transaction type SRVR (Service Request) has the following main configuration settings:

The standard available item category for an item in a service request is SRQI (Service Request Item). The service item object type (which defines the business context for the item category) for this item category is BUS2000140 (Service Product Item).

This is also the default item category that is determined using the item category determination configuration for SRVR (Service Request) and SRQT (Serv. Requ. Template) documents. See unit 3 of this course for more details concerning item category determination.

Item category SRQI (Service Request Item) has been maintained for business transaction category BUS2000115 (Sales), where it is set to not relevant for billing (the Bill. Relevance field) and also not relevant for pricing (the Pricing-rel. field). It is also maintained for business transaction category BUS2000116 (Service Order/Quot.) where it is set to not relevant for costing (the Relevance to Costs field) or resource planning (the Resource Planning Relevance field).

Besides the configuration of transaction types for service requests and service request templates, item categories and the item category determination, copying control settings on transaction type and item category level are also required. In the standard configuration available for SAP S/4HANA Service, the following entries for copying control on transaction type level are available:

The following entries for copying control on item category level are available:

Checklists can be used for step-by-step task processing by one or more users. A checklist is a list of steps to be performed by assigned step partners. For checklists, a checklist profile is required, which consists of a number of checklist-related settings, including the checklist(s) themselves. The checklist profile to be used for a certain document (for example, a service request), is assigned to the transaction type used for that document.

To define and assign checklist profiles in Customizing, navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Transactions → Basic Settings → Checklist Settings → Define Checklist Profiles.

In this Customizing transaction, the required checklist profiles can be defined and then also assigned to the relevant transaction types. In the standard configuration available for an SAP S/4HANA system, checklist profile SAP00001 (SAP Checklist Profile) is assigned to transaction type SRVR (Service Request). It contains one checklist: 00000001 (SAP Default Checklist), which consists of two steps.

A step in a checklist has a link to a service manager profile (in the standard: SRQM_CHKLST_BP (SAP Checklist Step Partner)), which is a grouping of services and related settings that is used when a certain service manager is invoked.

To define a service manager profile, in Customizing, navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Master Data → Business Partner → Rule-Based Assignment of Employees → Define Service Manager Profiles.

When a service request is saved, the SAP S/4HANA system can determine the service product automatically for the relevant line item. Setting the Item Determination flag activates the identification of this service product for the relevant line item. The service product can be used to determine, for example, the relevant service contract, service level profile, billing information, and dates. The determination of the service product is based on so-called Multilevel Categorization. If multiple service products are determined, the system chooses the product from the lowest-level category.

If the automatic item determination using multilevel categorization is required, it needs to be activated in Customizing. Navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Transactions → Settings for Service Requests → Define Item Determination. Here, the Item Determination flag can be set for a transaction type.

As a prerequisite for item determination, in Customizing, one or more catalog categories need to be assigned to the transaction type (for example, SRVR (Service Request)) for which item determination needs to happen. A catalog category is used to group catalogs of the same type (for example, damage catalogs for technical objects). Navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Cross-Application Components → Multilevel Categorization → Assign Transaction Types to Catalog Categories.

For transaction types SRQT (Service Request Template) and SRVR (Service Request), entries are available for catalog categories C (Overview of Damage/Defects/Reasons) and D (Defect Locations/Object Parts). Here, item determination needs to be activated for the combination of transaction type and catalog category. For transaction type SRVR (Service Request), this has been flagged for catalog category D (Defect Locations/Object Parts).

Besides the SAP GUI configuration mentioned above, multi-level categories also need to be added to a so-called Categorization Schema. A categorization schema contains all categories that can be assigned in a service request and optionally further transaction types such as service request templates, service orders, and others.

A categorization schema can be maintained using the WebClient UI. Use the business role Service Professional. Alternatively, the SAP Fiori launchad for business role Customer Service Manager (standard business role SAP_BR_CUSTOMER_SERVICE_MGR) can be used. Navigate to Operations → Create Categorization Schema.

The logical structure of a categorization schema can be either hierarchical or based on attributes. A hierarchical categorization represents a strict hierarchical arrangement of categories, and each category describes a subject. Categorization based on attributes is not strictly hierarchical and allows the use of category duplicates to map value combinations. The standard categorization schema used in the system (YBP_SERVICE) is set up as a hierarchical schema.

Application areas are used to assign categorization schemas to applications (business transaction types), for example, to service requests or service orders.

A categorization schema has a validity period. When the valid-from date (and time) are reached, the categorization schema’s status is updated to Active. When it is active, it is available for selection in the service request and other application areas defined.

The following is a list of some other important configuration settings related to service requests:

• As already explained in the previous lesson, service level agreement (SLA) data for a service transaction line item (that is, a service and a response profile) can be determined based on an access sequence, which is part of a so-called SLA determination procedure. The access sequence tells the system where and in what order to find the appropriate SLA information. The system searched for the first SLA source identified in the access sequence that has both a service profile and a response profile and then assigns these profiles to the service transaction item.

  In Customizing, navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Transactions → Settings for Service Requests → Define SLA Determination Procedures to define the SLA determination procedures that contain the access sequence.

• It is possible to define values for the Impact field (for example High), Urgency field (for example Emergency or High), and the resulting recommended Priority level (for example 1 (Very high)) that can be assigned to a combination of these two field values for a service request. In Customizing, navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Transactions → Settings for Service Requests → Define Impact/Urgency/Recommended Priority.

• It is possible (but optional) to create a processing log for a business transaction to provide a consolidated audit trail of changes made to the transaction. This can also be activated for service requests (at both transaction type and item category level).

  In Customizing, navigate to SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Transactions → Settings for Service Requests → Settings for Processing Log → Assign Log Types to Transaction Types and SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Service → Transactions → Settings for Service Requests → Settings for Processing Log → Assign Log Types to Item Categories.